Angels, Death Signs, and Trelawny was right?
by Iliandra Nightshade
Summary: A new girl comes to Hogwarts, bearing scrolls from the library at Alexandria. She has the respect of the centaurs, and the disbelieving, grudging acknowledgement of Slytherins. Dumbledore calls her 'Aunt' so who in Merlin's beard is she?
1. Scrolls and Chills

"Harry!" Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley called at the same time. Harry had been away, searching for and destroying horcruxes over the summer break, and though they had been with him most of the time, he had made them go home for the last two weeks. Now, on the first of September, they were about to go to Hogwarts for their last year. All three laughed a little as they spotted each other, and met near the middle of the train.

Always the sensible one, Hermione said, "Let's board at the front, and work our way back to look for an empty compartment. C'mon, grab your trunks."

The three hurried on board, to get an empty compartment before they all filled up. At the very back of the train, the last three compartments were totally noiseless. Harry frowned as his scar twinged slightly, but didn't hurt, it was a strange sensation, almost like lukewarm water trickling down the back of his neck. Hermione and Ron shivered slightly, and Ron began to turn back, "Guys, let's see if there's another compartment up front, I'm don't think we should stay back here."

Hermione opened her mouth to agree, but the look on Harry's face stopped her. Harry opened the door to the last compartment, and and revealed a girl of sixteen. The girl nodded a greeting, without turning her head from a parchment spread across her lap. Ron stared openly, and Hermione opened her mouth in a n 'o' of surprise. Harry froze in the door, and nothing moved but the girl, who tapped her fingers on the parchment she was reading.

Upon reaching the conclusion of the text a few minutes later, the girl rolled up the scroll, and stood, handing it to Hermione as she moved past, "That is the account of Empress Wayla Strounstgi, I think you'll find it good material. Please, take the compartment, I can find another." The chilling, odd sensation vanished as the girl disappeared into the bathroom.

Harry walked into the compartment and inspected it, paranoid after his summer of horcrux hunting. Ron sat dumbly, the sensation had taken him into a memory of when he was very little, and he had yet to return to the world. Hermione unrolled the scroll, and scanned the 3,000 foot parchment with a careful eye. She was the first to break the silence. "This is the original, untranslated scroll from the library at Alexandria. That girl just handed it to me, not to mention, was reading it with obvious fluency. What I'm holding in my hands this very moment is completely and utterly beyond priceless. Merlin himself couldn't lay a finger on this scroll if he wanted to. And _I'm_ actually _holding_ it."

Done inspecting, Harry sat down opposite Ron, who seemed to snap out of his trance, and Hermione sat next to Ron. "I-I just remembered a time when I saw that girl before!" Ron exclaimed. "I was really little, and everyone was outside really late, dancing in the streets. She was standing on top of a roof, holding a baby boy, my age, murmuring weird words over him. Then, she disappeared into a mirror, and everything just went dark. Harry, do you know who she is?"

The other boy shook his head, "No, but my scar tingles, it feels like warmish water is running down my neck, and I began to see my parents death again, but she left."

The trio all sank into their own thoughts. Hermione fingered the scroll in her hands, itching to begin the slow process of translations, but afraid to damage the artifact, clearly saved from time through spells. Ron kept trying to figure out why all the people were dancing in the streets, but came to nothing each time. Harry was trying to understand the feeling his scar gave him, and why he would see his parents death, yet he was still just as confused as before.

Rolling wheels sounded from down the hall, and a compartment door slid open, letting the sound of laughter and talking drift down the hall. A moment later, the lunch witch stuck her head in. "Anything off the trolley, dears?"

None of the Gryffindors had noticed the time, since they were so engrossed in their thoughts. Harry and Hermione bought about a third of the cart all together, and they all dove into the pile of sweets to try and forget about the girl. Hermione carefully packed away the scroll before touching the messy chocolates, and Ron and Harry each tried to ignore and shove to the back of their minds the feeling the girl had brought out in them. For the remainder of the trip, they talked about meaningless subjects, and wondered at what Voldemort would try that year.

As the train pulled into the station, and the familiar noise of returning to school reached the trio, it was easier to forget the girl, until she appeared at the door of their carriage, at least. "Would it be alright if I sat with you three? My only other choice is Draco Malfoy's lot, or on the back of a thestral. I wouldn't mind the latter, but these thestrals are harnessed, and I'd have to call one that wasn't tied to a carriage."

Though a little unwillingly, the three took her into the carriage. The anticipated odd feeling was so faint, that only Harry noticed, and he only felt it for a fraction of a second. Hermione introduced them, "I'm Hermione Granger, and this is Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. You are?"

The girl nodded to Hermione, but not in either boy's direction. "Lennae Faellae, call me what you like, as long as it isn't my full name. Too long and hard to pronounce. Forgive me if I don't look directly at you when you talk to me or vice versa, I had a bit of an accident with my eyes some years ago. They aren't the best things to see with. Again I'm sorry, but if you boys could introduce yourselves separately, it's easier to know who's who."

Both Harry and Ron obliged, and their uneasiness around Lennae began to erase itself on the way up to the castle. Lennae eventually brought the conversation around to the train ride. "Hermione, eager to begin on that scroll? I have a translation, entirely literally, without proper English grammar and such if you'd like to read it before you translate it. I didn't give it to you upfront because I know translating is half the fun."

Delighted, Hermione grinned, "Len, you're wonderful. I'd love to have the translation, but just to compare notes. You're fluent, I take it?"

Len responded, "In which language? I know several dozens, hundreds, really. One thousand nine hundred forty two, to be specific." When greeted with silence, Len tapped her fingers loudly on the window pane very rapidly, and frowned, "Why is that so shocking? My parents were multi-lingual, and taught me at least twenty before they died when I was five, and the tutors that became my guardians after continued their teaching. It is much easier to learn when yo are young, and more impressionable, than to begin learning at a much older age. Also, the more languages you know, the easier it is to learn more."

Puzzled, Hermione asked, "But aren't there 2,000 official languages? That would mean that there aren't many left for you to learn before you can talk to pretty much anybody that speaks. How have you learned so many? Professor Dumbledore is nearing 150, and he only speaks maybe two to four dozen languages. Nicholas Flamel was over 600, and he didn't know even nearly a 1000. He was an-"

"Alchemist, one of the few to discover the true Philosopher's stone. Well, what alchemists think is the true stone. Yes, I know. Though, I learned the base fifty languages and English by six, and once you know those, the rest are easy. I can speak every official language, and several not on the list at least well enough to navigate my way. I'm simply fluent in 1,942. Now, we're at Hogwarts, or else something fell in front of the carriage because we've stopped." Len finished off, and left the carriage abruptly.

Weaving through the crowd, Len was up and in the school before anyone else, and she spoke quickly with Professor McGonagal before going into the Great Hall, and signaling Dumbledore from the doorway. The old man rose and quickly walked over. "Ah, Miss. Faellae, I trust your journey was not too difficult with your handicap? Would you like a lemon drop?"

Len bowed from the waist to Dumbledore, and replied, "No, thank you, I don't eat sweets. My trip here would have been easier had I been allowed to fly here, but as it was, I was not hindered due to my lack of eyesight. I'm sure you know of my ability to maneuver around that."

Without the usual twinkle residing in his eyes, Dumbledore sighed, "A pity you don't eats sweets. They are one of my favorite things, ah well, it cannot be helped. If you can forgive my rudeness, I would like to know, how can you fly without being able to see? I have no knowledge of how to get around blindness due to your particular cause, however."

With a shrug, Len brushed it off, "As it were, I have a way around the accident that has absolutely nothing to do with magic, and I can see just fine if I have to, I just don't use my eyes to do so. For instance, if you would stand behind me, I can tell you the exact contents and point they reside at in the room."


	2. The Staff and the Forest

Dumbledore stood back, and Len pulled from her pocket a staff which enlarged itself as the students began to file into the Entrance hall. With a resounding thud, Len brought the staff down against the stone flagons that made up the floor, and stood there for a moment, before announcing, "There is a table, wooden about two meters or so in front of me, by the banner, I'd say Ravenclaw. To the right of that is the Huffelpuff, about three meters separating them. To the left of Ravenclaw is Slytherin, and to the right of Huffelpuff is Gryffindor. About five meters off from the other end of the Ravenclaw table is a staircase with five, narrow, but broad steps leading up to what I would say is the staff table. At the table, from the far left, is a man, a woman, another woman, an empty seat, a man, the high seat in the middle is empty, a woman, a man, a man, a woman, and an empty seat. There are candles floating, they're white. Suits of armor line the hall, and a ghost, no, make that two just floated in from the wall behind us."

Shrinking the staff and replacing it in her pocket, Len turned to Dumbledore as the throng of students surged in around them. The old man was shocked, but did well hiding it. "Very well, let's get you sorted then," Dumbledore led Len to the front, and as McGonagal led the first years in with the Hat, he brought her up next to his chair.

When the Hat began to speak, Len knelt next to Dumbledore's chair, between him and the man she had informed Dumbledore sat there.

_As this year, merry and fun begins_

_Among ourselves we must look_

_To see Death' s Angel bring us closer_

_And unite us, our dear Hogwarts_

_As the final dawn breaks, we must be one_

_Or we shall fall to the rise of a new power_

_Forget old grudges_

_Hold none accountable for the past_

_Five must be one, and all must be friends_

_Brothers and sisters in battle, _

_So unite Hogwarts_

_Be one school_

_Not four houses_

_Not four founders_

_Be one Hogwarts, and Fight._

_The founders four divided and fell_

_Those alone fell to the tide of many_

_Those given power in fear will win_

_Unless those rooted in love are watered_

_Be one_

_As one_

_Forever one_

_And Rise._

The conclusion of the recitation was met with silence. That Hat had always _sung_ and now it simply spoke a bunch of garbled nonsense? Where was the advice? One pair of hands clapped, it was Len's. Numbly, the rest of the Hall followed suit, and the Sorting began with Dumbledore, who stood and announced, "This is Lennae Faellae, and she will be joining our seventh years." The headmaster motioned for the man next to him, Severus Snape, to bring Len to the Hat. Snape raised an eyebrow, but escorted her anyway.

After being placed on Len's head, the Hat simply sat there, for nearly ten minutes before yelling, "Black!" Several jaws dropped, mostly at the staff table, though a few Ravenclaws, a Slytherin or three and Hermione also knew the implications, knowing Hogwarts: A History, cover to cover.

Emotionlessly, though she also knew what her house meant, Len turned to Snape, "So who do you want me to share with Slytherin, or Gryffindor?"

Rising, Dumbledore told the entire room, "Miss. Faellae will be sharing everything with the Slytherins, though she is, in fact, in a house of her own." At a motion from Dumbledore, the Sorting continued as Len was led to the Slytherin table by Snape.

At the table, Snape pointed, "Sit here, and don't make trouble."

Len raised an eyebrow. "This hall is on the larger side, where's 'here' ?"

Snape raised an eyebrow this time, "I indicated which seat? Are you blind, or just impudent?"

"Blind, actually. A small accident a number of years back rendered my eyes useless. Would you mind giving me more specific directions, sir?" Len replied bluntly.

As the clues clicked, Snape placed a hand on Len's arm and gently pushed her forward until she was touching the back of a chair. "That is an empty place. The boy to your right is Draco Malfoy, the girl to your left Daphne Greengrass. They are going to help you find your way about the school, as they are in your year."

Len sat, and folded her arms over her abdomen as the Sorting wound down. When the food appeared, so did a girl, who had apparently been sitting where Len was, since she tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for Len to move. "Can I help you? I'm blind, and I do believe you can find another seat more easily than I can." Len snapped. She didn't like crowded conditions, and was itching to slip away to the dungeons. Len had lived in Hogwarts before, and knew the castle well, yet she couldn't draw too much suspicion to herself now. Word had probably reached the Gryffindor table that she was blind, and as she thought about it, Len became more irritated, because Harry, Ron, and Hermione would know that she didn't just have really awful sight.

Pansy Parkinson, who had been sitting next to Malfoy, drew a shocked breath, and evicted the girl on the other side of the blond to cover herself. To avoid the high-pitched, pug-faced girl now on his right, Malfoy turned to Len, and noticed she hadn't taken anything to eat. Then, he remembered that she was blind, and he asked, "Would you like something to eat? I'm Draco Malfoy, by the way." Looking her up and down, he saw that Len was actually _very _ hot, and he decided that she might be worth a week as his girlfriend.

Len frowned, "No, thanks, I really just want to leave. I'm Lennae Faellae. That girl, on your other side, who is she?"

"Are you sure? You can't have eaten much on the train. And that's Pansy Parkinson, why?" Malfoy responded evenly.

With a smirk, Len shook her head, and said, "Yeah I'm sure. Pansy, hmm? No offense or anything, but she reeks of chemicals. I'm just going to go down to the dungeons. Do you know the password for the commons, or do I have to cheat?"

Surprised, but Malfoy mask coldly in place, the blond answered, "How would you know how to get down there? You can't see, and you've just come here."

Standing, Len muttered, "Cheating it is. Do me a favor, Draco Malfoy? You and Daphne Greengrass both, actually. Don't help me around the school."

Len left and shocked everyone who had heard that she was blind, especially Malfoy and Snape. At the blank wall to the Slytherin common room, Len hissed in Parseltounge, "Open," and she slipped inside.

Rather than go to the girl's dormitory, where she knew her empty trunk lay, Len walked to the portrait of Salazar Slytherin, placed a hand on it, and hissed again, "Open," before walking through. Inside, Len set the wards on the room to react to only her, rather than by password and override in Parseltounge, like the rest of the dorms. Inside the room, Len had access to the entire castle, because it was Salazar Slytherin's old quarters. The rooms connected to every part of the grounds, and had a full 3D map of the entire area, which changed to account for the changes that the land underwent. Len had many of her own things in the rooms, in addition to what the founders had left behind for whomever found them. Having always like Slytherin best, Len had stayed in his quarters whenever it was necessary for her to spend prolonged time in Hogwarts.

Soon after Len had re-settled everything, the Slytherins filed in, followed by Snape, who took attendance, starting with the first years, going in alphbetical order, and working his way through the years up to seventh, where, when he called, "Faellae, Lennae" there was no answer.


	3. Yelling at Albus Dumbledore

As murmurs rippled through the room, Len cursed her stupidity, of course she would be included in the Slytherin list. Slipping out of the portrait, she caught many eyes. "I don't recall Dumbledore saying I was as good as a Slytherin. I was under the impression that I was to share points and a schedule with Slytherins, and that, officially I'm in Black."

Snape's eyes narrowed, and he hissed, "I spoke with the headmaster. He has concluded that you are to, in all aspects, be considered a Slytherin, and the fact that you were put in Black will only be acknowledged on papers for the Ministry."

Many Slytherins unconsciously leaned back, away from Snape's rage, but Len was unaffected. "I was uninformed. My apologies." Len made to go back to the portrait, and was stopped by a well aimed spell.

Len turned back around, though the spell sent at her was meant to paralyze. Snape sneered, "And where are you going? You claim to be blind, yet you very ungratefully tell Mr. Malfoy and Miss. Greengrass that their services are unnecessary, and then you don't even go to your dorm the normal way, but you have to make it look fancy. The truth, Miss. Faellae."

Looking in the direction Snape's voice came from, Len once again enlarged her staff. She thumped it against the floor, and in the silence, navigated to Snape, thumping the staff inhumanly fast against the floor. Barely moving her lips, Len hissed, "Look in my eyes, and tell me that it is possible, in anyway, to use them to see. Please, I would absolutely _love_ to know how I can stop using tricks to get around."

Snape looked Len in the eye, and said, "How in Merlin's name did you manage to do that to yourself?"

"What? Get Cruciatus spell fragments permanently lodged in my eyes? Oh, maybe I was fighting someone? How else?" Len drawled, all traces of the formality and proper language that she'd used on the train had gone. "Was I experimenting in a mad wizard's laboratory with Unforgiveables? Please, humor me, don't sugar coat anything, don't baby me, and don't treat me any different from Draco Malfoy over there."

Len's staff had begun to attract a lot of attention as it began to glow. It was gold, inlaid with two vines, starting at the base and curving around the handle in opposite directions. Thorns were carved on the vine, protruding where it turned around the staff. At the top was a large emerald fused with an onyx and a ruby. It was the stone that glowed the most, and it was held in place by strange and ancient magic, floating above the end of the staff itself, which curved in on itself and twisted to form a snake's body coiled, head up, and jaw opened wide, so that if the stone was lowered, then snake's fangs would hold the stone neatly in place.

At Len' s attitude, Snape was offended, but when he gave the staff a second run over with his eyes, his eyebrows went up. "The Staff of Angels," he murmured, "May I?" Visibly making an effort to remove the glow, Len handed the staff to Snape. "The legends are true, then?"

In response, Len nodded, and several Slytherins who also recognized the staff bowed or curtseyed. Malfoy, however, sneered, "What penniless dabbling wizard did you buy that off? Everyone knows that those are just stories told to scare little children. Don't tell me you people actually buy her story? She fought someone years ago, and a Cruciatus curse shattered and embedded itself in her eyes, and she has an Angelic Staff. How plausible does that sound? Is anyone else not convinced?"

Snape handed back the staff, and beckoned Malfoy forward. "Mr. Malfoy, look at her eyes, and look at that staff, carefully. Then tell me what isn't possible. No matter how she got them, she has them."

The boy sneered, but examined Len's eyes, and then the staff. Though slightly shaken at the look in Len's eyes, he nodded and said, "Yes, however it happened, it is true. But now, if you can't see, how do you get around?"

Len took back her staff, and replied, "I never said I couldn't see. I can't use my eyes, yes; but I can see. How I can, is none of your business. Now excuse me, I'm going to my quarters." Len went through the portrait, and then exited the castle from a room that had a door that you could use to exit through every door and portrait on the grounds, including Hogsmede. Len didn't sleep or eat, unless she was mortally injured, and she had incredible endurance. Removing her shoes, Len sent a silent call into the forest, and a pair of thestrals trotted over, nuzzling her and licking her. "Hello there. Yes, it's good to be back. Did you miss flying me all over the place? I don't think you did, how about we visit the centaurs, and let them know I'm back, huh?"

The thestrals flanked Len, and led her into the Forbidden Forest. Once deep enough, a centaur guard surrounded them, "Witches and wizards are not welcome in the forest, go back now, while we'll let you!" One of the guard called.

Unaffected, Len sent the thestrals away, "When did you reach this level of hospitality, Star Gazer?"

Bane, the centaur who had warned Len, bowed, "My apologies, Dark Fire, Mars has been unusually bright, and Venus has been much dimmed. Please, there is no need to brighten Mercury's light, come and feast with us."

Bowing from the waist, Len replied, "Mercury shall not endure out feet forever, let us dine then, and make Venus the brighter." Bane, knowing of Len's eyes, trotted over, and placed a hand on her shoulder, gently guiding her to the centaur's clearing.

At the fire, Bane presented Len, and the current Lord, Jarsak, greeted her, "Welcome, Dark Fire, please, join us, and tell us of you path beneath Pluto."

Responding in kind, as was custom, Len replied, "Pluto is seen bright enough this night, I wish to know what my noble kin have seen written for us tonight. Let us feast beneath Venus and make her shine ever brighter."

The group of centaurs agreed, and they feasted, all the while talking in riddles about what was going on in the forest. It was generally agreed, "That Mars is unusually bright every night this season." As Bane escorted her back to the edge of the forest, and they exchanged pleasantries, Len began to mentally translate the talk of the night. As she went back to Salazar's rooms, shoes reclaimed, Len muttered to herself, "So, a few of the people here stirred up the forest because of the war they're having, and the centaurs are getting ready to choose sides, they only hope not too many will die. What a wonderful outlook. We all know why I'm not just dropping by to say hello. This is just a pleasant end to an even more pleasant day! Dumbledore..."

Len used the all purpose door to go straight to the headmaster's office, where she demanded, "Dumbledore, explain!"

The old man innocently responded, "I have no clue as to what you are talking about, my dear, and it's uncharacteristically rude of you not to knock, wear a skirt or curtsy. Whatever happened to the manners you used to display? Such a nice girl..."

"Don't play games with me, Albus, I don't care how old you are, I was here when they borrowed my magic to put this castle up, and I'll be here when they take it down. Now, if you doubt that I helped raise the pyramids, I still have the sand stuck in places you wouldn't think you could get sand in! Out with it!" Len demanded. Far away, a storm began to rumble, and lightening flashed, "Now look, you've frustrated me, and that storm will never make it to Kent! You do realize they have a drought... Now I'll have to send it back, and they won't be happy!"

The clouds began to recede quickly as Dumbledore explained, "Alright Aunt Lennae, but it was all entirely unintentional, I promise! It started when Harry Potter went in there for a detention, and he stumbled into Voldemort on the back of one of my professor's head."

"Go on, Albus..." growled Len.

The old man seemed like a child caught stealing cookies, "Firenze saved him, then Hagrid brought his younger half brother, who's a giant to the forest, because he was getting picked on by the bigger giants, so _that_ got them all frustrated because he made a big fuss. Then there was Aragog and his family chasing Potter and his friend before that, and then two years ago Potter and his other friend used the centaurs to dispose of the defense teacher, and of course there was the matter of the flying car and Firenze teaching at the school-"\

Len cut him off, "In other words Albus, you utterly and royally screwed up. I swear, you and your ex-boyfriend, you and your ex-student, you and your ex-allies, in your life time I've been busier than I've been since Arthur started all that Camelot nonsense, and I had to set up Avalon to counter. The only times before that was the burning at Alexandria, the Crusades, and the Hebrews from Egypt. Honestly, three wars in a life time Albus, you are a far too busy man. Pick one, war or school, then pick between that and politics. Do it tonight, I'll bring in replacements. Let me know first thing in the morning, and there will be no negotiating. I mean it."


End file.
